bookbashuk Chapter 329 New Mechanism
Chapter 329 New Mechanism
Chapter 329 New Mechanism
the other side.
The windows of the Hokage Building were half-open, and the evening breeze blew in from outside, making the pages of the newsletter on the desk rustle softly.
Tsunade's fingers pressed against the newly delivered secret report, her knuckles tensing little by little, her fingernails almost scratching the paper.
Shizune stood to the side and whispered, "The information has been verified three times. The border outposts, the spies lurking in the Land of Earth, and the testimonies of the caravan intercepted in the northern Land of Fire all match up."
Tsunade didn't reply immediately, but just looked at the words on it again.
One month.
The allied forces of the daimyo of the Land of Earth, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Lightning will officially advance towards the Land of Fire in one month.
This is not a test, not a small-scale conflict, nor a border skirmish; it is a clear indication that they intend to use the pretext of "attacking Uchiha Izumi" to push the flames of war all the way to the heart of the Land of Fire.
Mitokado Homura stood on the other side of the Hokage's office, his voice low: "They've stopped hiding it. There are even rumors within the Allied Forces that they want to divide up the Land of Fire's territory. The daimyo of those smaller countries were only wavering at first, but now that they see the three countries are really on the verge of joining forces, they've all started sending people over."
Koharu Utatane frowned, her voice a little sharper than usual: "Their ambitions are no longer limited to Izumi alone, but extend to the entire Hidden Leaf Village, the entire Land of Fire!"
Tsunade gave a cold laugh and tossed the intelligence report back onto the table.
"Of course I can tell."
There was a moment of silence in the office.
Shizune looked up at Tsunade: "Should we call a Jonin team meeting immediately?"
Tsunade didn't answer, but looked directly out the window. After a moment, she said, "Go and call Izumi."
Jingyin paused for a moment, then nodded: "I'll go right away."
She turned to leave, and as soon as the door opened, a steady footstep echoed down the corridor.
"No."
Outside the door, Uchiha Ikezumi stood in the twilight, his expression calm as if he had known all along that someone would be waiting for him here.
Shizune instinctively stepped aside: "Chi Quan, you already know?"
"The atmosphere at the border is different from a few days ago. When I returned to the village, I glanced at a few leaked messages."
Chi Quan stepped into the office, his gaze falling on the intelligence report on Tsunade's desk. "It seems it's officially confirmed."
Tsunade leaned against the table, arms crossed, and stared at him for a few seconds.
"You don't seem surprised at all."
"Accidents are meaningless."
Chi Quan walked to the table, picked up the intelligence report, glanced at it, and put it back. "They were going to make their move sooner or later. It's just that they're more organized than I expected."
Mitokado Homura frowned. "This isn't something that can be dismissed with a simple 'let's be more organized.' The allied forces, numbering over 30,000, are still expanding, and even if most of them are just genin, nagakure, and miscellaneous samurai, it's still a considerable number."
Chi Quan glanced at him: "I know."
"You know?" Koharu's voice betrayed barely suppressed anxiety. "You know and you're still so calm? They're going to invade the Land of Fire in a month!"
Ikezumi didn't argue with her, but simply turned Jiko back to Tsunade.
"So, you summoned me here to discuss how Konoha should respond?"
Tsunade looked at him: "What else?"
"It's very simple."
Chi Quan's tone was completely calm. "Let the Konoha ninjas continue their daily training."
The office fell silent for a moment.
Silent seemed not to have heard: "—Continue training?"
"That's right."
"Chi Quan!" Tsunade frowned. "Do you even know what time it is?"
"Know."
"So you're letting them continue training as usual? Do you think Konoha doesn't need to prepare for war?"
"Preparing for war is not about stopping everyone from what they were doing and then gathering together to create anxiety."
Chi Quan looked at Tsunade, his voice still calm, "The more critical the moment, the less chaotic the village should be. The Ninja Academy will continue classes as usual, the Chunin and Special Mobile Units will continue their combat training, the medical teams will maintain their shifts, the Sensory Teams will expand their patrol areas, and additional Anbu and reconnaissance teams will be deployed to the border. But there is no need to create an atmosphere within the village where a great war is imminent and everyone is on edge."
Mitomon En couldn't help but say, "But that's the Allied Forces' '7'..."
"So what if it's a coalition force?"
Chi Quan interrupted him, his tone not harsh, yet leaving him momentarily speechless, "Do you think they won't come just because Konoha had an extra meeting today and missed one taijutsu practice session tomorrow?"
The office fell silent again.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes: "Go on."
Chi Quan nodded.
"The most important thing now is not a large-scale mobilization, but stability. The order within the Land of Fire must not be disrupted, and the rhythm within Konoha must not be disrupted. We must defend the borders and gather intelligence, but daily life within the village must be maintained. Only in this way will the Allied Forces be unable to discern our true intentions."
Xiaochun, who was switching dorm rooms, frowned: "Are you trying to deliberately appear weak?"
"It's not about showing weakness, it's about making them unable to understand."
Chi Quan looked out the window, the setting sun gradually falling on his profile. "If Konoha were to mobilize troops on a large scale now, close off the streets, suspend ninja academy classes, and even send all the Jonin to the border, the Allied Forces would only become more vigilant. They would know that Konoha is on high alert, and it would force the Daimyo to integrate their forces more quickly."
Tsunade tapped her fingers lightly on the table: "You mean, let them gather slowly according to the original plan?"
"right."
"and then?"
"Then wait until they get to the position I want them to be in."
Tsunade stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly snorted, "You make it sound like you already have a plan."
Chi Quan neither denied nor admitted it.
"No changes are needed for now."
"Temporarily?" Tsunade caught the key word in his words.
"Yeah, for now."
Chi Quan said calmly, "For now, let the village keep running. I'll come find you when it's time to make changes."
Tsunade frowned: "Are you that sure?"
"What are you so sure about?"
"I'm confident you can hold them off by yourself."
Chi Quan looked at her, his eyes showing no hint of boasting, as if he were simply stating something ordinary.
"Not just block, but crush."
Shizune stood to the side, unconsciously clenching the notebook in her arms.
She found that every time she heard Chi Quan speak in this tone, she would have a strange feeling. It wasn't arrogance, underestimation of the enemy, or simple confidence, but rather a kind of calm that seemed almost taken for granted.
In his eyes, the coalition of tens of thousands of people was no different from the endless stream of villains in the Land of Grass.
Tsunade remained silent for a long time before finally reaching out to pick up the intelligence report from the table again.
"it is good."
Mitokado En and Utatane Koharu both looked at her at the same time.
"Tsunade, you—"
I said, "Okay."
Tsunade ignored the two and looked only at Izumi. "Maintain normal order in the village, continue training as usual, strengthen border security, and maximize intelligence coverage. The stability you want, I'll give you."
Chi Quan nodded: "Okay."
Tsunade added, "But there's one thing: if the situation changes again within half a month, you must come to see me immediately."
"Can."
"Also, don't do anything on your own."
97
Chi Quan glanced at her but didn't answer immediately.
Tsunade immediately sensed something was wrong, her voice turning cold: "What kind of look is that?"
"It's nothing."
"Chiquan."
"I told you, it's nothing."
Chi Quan turned and walked towards the door. "If there's nothing else, I'll go check out the training ground first."
"—You're really planning to go to the training grounds?"
"Didn't you promise that training would continue as usual?"
The door closed gently behind him.
The office was quiet for a moment, then Shizune whispered, "Lady Tsunade, I have a feeling he's already thinking about something else."
Tsunade replied coldly, "I know that too."
Koharu, turning to her dorm, said unhappily, "Since you knew that, why did you still agree to it?"
Tsunade slammed the intelligence report onto the table.
"Because he's right, Konoha can't afford to be in chaos right now."
She walked back to the table and sat down, her fingers interlaced and resting on her chin, but her eyes were somewhat somber.
"But I also know that although that kid says 'let's not change for now,' he's probably already planning when to make his move."
Night gradually fell over the village.
The streets of Konoha, however, did not experience the panic that had been expected.
The lights came on as usual, one by one, and the noodle shops on the street were still steaming. The vendors selling dumplings called out to the ninjas who were passing by. The children who were late coming home from the ninja academy ran past the street corner with their schoolbags on their backs, shouting as they ran whose kunai was thrown more accurately.
However, upon closer inspection, it is still noticeable that it is different from usual.
The number of patrol guards has increased.
The shadowy figures flashing across the rooftops became more frequent.
In some usually inconspicuous alleyways, ninjas wearing headbands are now standing against the wall, seemingly chatting or staring at something.
Meanwhile, on the third training ground on the west side of the village, as night fell, the lights were already on.
"Again!"
"Hurry up! Are you throwing kunai or tossing leaves?!"
"Rework all those with unstable chakra attachments!"
At the edge of the training field, several Jonin leading special mobile teams were shouting orders.
A dozen or so ninjas of varying ages moved about the training ground, their feet treading on a training net made of interwoven wooden stakes and barbed wire. Some threw kunai from mid-air, some formed hand seals and released low-level wind release techniques to cut wooden targets, and others ran around the perimeter of the field carrying weights. The sounds of panting and the clanging of weapons mingled together, and steam rose from the air.
Neji stood on a high stake on the north side, his Byakugan open and veins bulging on his forehead.
A Chunin below shouted, "Target to the left rear!"
Almost at the same instant the sound rang out, three kunai wrapped in red thread flew out diagonally from the shadows.
Neji didn't look down. Instead, he turned his foot and slid half an inch away from the target, as three kunai flew past his sleeve. He struck the end of one of the kunai with his backhand, and the kunai suddenly changed direction in mid-air, embedding itself directly in the center of the moving wooden target more than ten meters away.
"middle!"
Someone shouted from the sidelines.
Another Chunin in charge of recording wrote with his head down: "Reaction time has been reduced by 12%, sensory range is stable, and chakra consumption is less than three days ago."
""
Neji landed on the high stake, his breathing slightly rapid, but he quickly regained his composure.
"continue."
The Jonin in charge of training looked at him and raised an eyebrow: "You've been training for almost four hours today."
""
"Not enough."
"Who are you trying to pick a fight with?"
Neji paused for a moment, then said calmly, "With yourself."
A soft laugh suddenly came from the sidelines.
"Stubborn to the end."
Neji turned around and saw Tenten standing outside the fence with a large roll of sealing scrolls in her arms. Next to her, Lee was doing a handstand and jumping along the outer stone path with a face full of enthusiasm.
"Neji! This is youth!"
As Li moved forward handstand, he shouted, "This burning feeling of desperately honing myself before the great battle!"
She kicks him in the shin every day.
"Shut up, you're embarrassing yourself."
Xiao Li stumbled, nearly losing her balance while upside down. She quickly flipped herself back to her feet, clutching her calf and gasping for breath: "Tian Tian, you hit me way too hard!"
"Who gave you permission to make noise here?"
Tenten walked into the training ground, placed the reel on the ground, looked at Neji, and said, "I've got a few new rapid-fire mechanisms in the equipment area. Want to give them a try?"
Neji nodded: "Okay."
As the three walked to the other side, they happened to see a person standing by a tree on the side of the field.
Xiao Li immediately stood up straight: "Lord Chi Quan!"
Tian Tian also subconsciously composed herself.
Neji simply stopped and looked over quietly.
Uchiha Ikezumi stood in the shadow of the tree, as if she had been watching for a while.
"Continue, don't worry about me."
Xiao Li immediately puffed out his chest: "Yes!"
Tian Tian didn't leave immediately, but couldn't help asking, "Lord Chi Quan, is the matter of the allied forces—true?"
The originally noisy sounds on the training field had inexplicably decreased.
Several pairs of eyes drifted over in this direction.
Chi Quan glanced at Tian Tian without looking away.
"It's true."
The air seemed to pause for a moment.
Xiao Li clenched his fist: "Does that mean we'll be going to the battlefield soon?"
"You want to go to the battlefield?"
"certainly!"
Lee answered without hesitation, "As long as Konoha can be protected, I will..."
"You're not enough."
Chi Quan's words shut him up.
Xiao Li blushed: "Me too."
"Your physical skills are good, and your willpower is also sufficient, but your speed, explosiveness, and endurance are currently lacking."
Chi Quan said calmly, "Going to the battlefield isn't about shouting a few nice words to win. What you should be doing right now is finishing today's training, finishing tomorrow's training, and finishing everything you need to do every day from now on."
Xiao Li opened his mouth, but in the end, he only nodded emphatically: "Yes!"
Tenten secretly glanced at Neji.
Neji's expression remained unchanged; he simply asked, "Shall we continue training as planned?"
"Um.
""
"Isn't the village going to be mobilized in advance?"
"We will mobilize, but not now."
Chi Quan's gaze swept over the people in the field. "You only need to remember one thing: as long as Konoha is not in chaos, training cannot be disrupted."
Neji was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Understood."
Chi Quan didn't say anything more and turned to leave.
It wasn't until he left the training ground that the sounds of breathing and weapons, which had subsided somewhat, began to rise again.
Tian Tian let out a long sigh and muttered to herself, "I don't know why, but I'm not so nervous when he comes."
Xiao Li nodded vigorously: "That's right! This is the sense of security that comes from being strong!"
Neji glanced in the direction Izumi had left, his eyes flickering slightly.
"It's not about feeling at ease."
"what?"
"It's because he doesn't see it as a threat at all."
Tian Tian was stunned for a moment.
Neji had already turned and headed towards the equipment area: "Let's go, let's practice the new mechanisms."